Boeing, the world&#8216;s largest aircraft manufacturer, has admitted that it is working on experimental anti-gravity projects that could overturn a century of conventional aerospace propulsion technology if the science that underpins them - science that senior Boeing officials describe as "valid" - can be engineered into hardware.

As part of the effort, which is being run out of Boeing&#8216;s Phantom Works advanced research and development facility in Seattle, the company is trying to solicit the services of a Russian scientist who claims he has developed &#8216;high-&#8216; and &#8216;low-power&#8216; anti-gravity devices in Russia and Finland. The approach, however, has been thwarted by Russian officialdom.

The Boeing drive to develop a collaborative relationship with the scientist in question, Dr Evgeny Podkletnov, has its own internal project name: &#8216;GRASP&#8216; - Gravity Research for Advanced Space Propulsion.

A briefing document on GRASP obtained by Jane&#8216;s Defence Weekly sets out what Boeing believes to be at stake. "If gravity modification is real," it says, "it will alter the entire aerospace business." The report was written by Jamie Childress, principal investigator for Boeing&#8216;s propellentless propulsion work at the Phantom Works in Seattle.

GRASP&#8216;s objective is to explore propellentless propulsion (the aerospace world&#8216;s more formal term for anti-gravity), determine the validity of Podkletnov&#8216;s work and "examine possible uses for such a technology". Applications, the company says, could include space launch systems, artificial gravity on spacecraft, aircraft propulsion and &#8216;fuelless&#8216; electricity generation - so-called &#8216;free energy&#8216;.

But it is also apparent that Podkletnov&#8216;s work could be engineered into a radical form of weapon system. The GRASP paper focuses on Podkletnov&#8216;s claims that his high-power experiments, using a device called an &#8216;impulse gravity generator&#8216;, are capable of producing a beam of &#8216;gravity-like&#8216; energy that can exert an instantaneous force of 1,000g on any object - enough, in principle, to vaporise it, especially if the object is moving at high speed.

Podkletnov maintains that a laboratory installation in Russia has already demonstrated the 4in (10.16cm) wide beam&#8216;s ability to repel objects a kilometre away and that it exhibits negligible power loss at distances of up to 200km (JDW 24 July). Such a device, observers say, could be adapted for use as an anti-satellite weapon or a ballistic missile shield.

The GRASP paper details the beam&#8216;s reported characteristics: that it is immune to electromagnetic shielding, that it can penetrate any intermediate barriers (objects placed between the generator and the target), that it propagates at very high speed ("possibly light speed or greater") and that the total force is proportional to target mass - that its effect, in other words, is exactly the same as gravity&#8216;s.

Podkletnov&#8216;s claims first surfaced in 1992 when he published a paper detailing his low-power experiments into gravity-shielding using superconductors, materials that lose their electrical resistance at low temperatures. The original experiments were conducted at the University of Technology in Tampere, Finland, before moving to Russia.

Podkletnov, who has a PhD in materials science from Tampere and the University of Chemical Technology in Moscow, declared that any object placed above his rapidly spinning superconducting apparatus lost up to 2% of its weight.

Although he was vilified by traditionalists who claimed that gravity-shielding was impossible under the known laws of physics, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) went on to attempt a replication of his work in the mid-1990s.

Because NASA lacked Podkletnov&#8216;s unique formula for the 30cm yttrium-barium copper oxide (YBCO) superconducting ceramic discs - a formula the Russian maintains is critical to the experiment&#8216;s success - the attempt failed. NASA&#8216;s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama will shortly conduct a second set of experiments, this time using apparatus built to Podkletnov&#8216;s specifications.

In August 2001, Podkletnov published a paper revealing his experimental high-power work and it is this that forms the focus of the GRASP report. Boeing wants to build its own impulse gravity generator at Seattle but admits that it lacks vital knowledge in the area of the YBCO emitter - Podkletnov&#8216;s special superconducting apparatus - which forms the heart of the generator.

As a result, Boeing recently approached Podkletnov directly, but promptly fell foul of Russian technology transfer controls. George Muellner, the outgoing head of the Boeing Phantom Works, confirmed that attempts by Boeing to work with Podkletnov had been blocked by Moscow, which is seeking to stem the exodus of Russian high-technology to the West. Muellner is convinced, however, that the science underpinning Podkletnov&#8216;s work is real.

"The physical principles - and Podkletnov&#8216;s device is not the only one - appear to be valid," he said. He confirmed that Boeing had conducted tests on a number of other anti-gravity devices, some of which were detailed in JDW 24 July.

"There is basic science there. They&#8216;re not breaking the laws of physics. The issue is whether the science can be engineered into something workable," Muellner said.

The GRASP briefing document reveals that BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin have also contacted Podkletnov "and have some activity in this area".

It is also possible, Boeing admits, that "classified activities in gravity modification may exist". The paper points out that Podkletnov is strongly anti-military and will only provide assistance if the research is carried out in the &#8216;white world&#8216; of open development.

GRASP concludes that a "positive result from experiments would give Boeing a substantial advantage in the aerospace industry".

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